Snellings Law PLLC Attorneys are Personal Injury Trial Lawyers
Protecting Your Family with Auto Insurance
We're Parents Too
Many of us here at Snellings Law are parents. As you’d expect from any parent, we take our children’s safety extremely seriously. We vet daycares, buy the best car seats, and make sure we send our kids to the best schools.
When we get in the car with our kids, we want to make sure we’re protecting them while driving as well. One way to do that is to make sure we have the best auto insurance coverage.
We know that you care about your family’s safety, too. It’s probably why you’re reading this article! We’ve assembled this guide to auto insurance so that you can make sure your family is safe and protected. Since personal injury is all we do at Snellings Law, we are focusing on bodily injury coverages in this guide.
Is Full Coverage Enough Coverage?
A phrase we hear often in our line of work is “I have full coverage,” but most people don’t really know what that means. They also don’t know that so-called “full coverage” isn’t going to cut it when it comes to protecting your family. So, let’s talk minimum coverage, full coverage, and then what else you can do to make sure your family is protected in the event of a car wreck.
Minimum coverage includes only liability coverage. Liability coverage will only cover the other person’s injuries and property damage if you cause a wreck. Texas requires liability coverage for all drivers. All drivers must have $30k per person for bodily injury, $60k per accident for bodily injury, and $25k per accident for property damage. However, you should consider increasing your liability coverage above the minimum. If you cause a wreck and your insurance does not cover all the costs, you may have to pay the difference out of your own pocket.
When people say they have “full coverage,” that usually means they have liability insurance, comprehensive, and collision coverage. We say usually because there isn’t a “full coverage” insurance policy, it is more of a term of art. Collision and comprehension coverage both only cover property damage. Collision coverage covers property damage to your vehicle from a collision. Comprehensive coverage covers property damage to your car from any other type of incident, such as theft, fire, hail, etc.
As you can see, “full coverage” under this definition doesn’t protect you if you are hit by someone without insurance or if you or one of your passengers have to go to the hospital after an accident.
What Other Policies Should You Add?
Since “full coverage” doesn’t really fully cover you and your family if you get in a wreck, you’re probably wondering what policies you should add to make sure your family is covered. The important policies to look at are Personal Injury Protection (PIP), Med-Pay, and Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage (UM/UIM).
You might be able to guess what Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage is from its name. This insurance policy will cover you if the person who hit you either doesn’t have insurance or doesn’t have enough insurance. While we are all required to have liability insurance to drive, a lot of people don’t. That is where the uninsured portion kicks in. It will protect you and your family in this situation. An even larger problem we regularly see if people driving with minimum limits that will not cover all of the damage they cause.
Underinsured motorist coverage will stack on top of the at-fault party’s insurance to provide additional funds to protect your family. This coverage is much more affordable than the liability coverages, and we always advocate for matching your UM/UIM coverage with your liability coverage (only because you cannot go higher!) We often find that having UM/UIM coverage can be the absolute most important aspect of a personal injury case in getting to the proper resolution.
To learn more about UM/UIM coverage, check out this video:
You should also consider getting Med-Pay or Personal Injury Protection. Both policies provide coverage regardless of who caused the wreck. We always recommend obtaining personal injury protection because it provides for more and has other additional benefits discussed below.
Med-Pay will cover medical bills and funeral expenses related to the wreck. The specific individuals your Med-Pay policy covers may vary, so make sure to check with your insurance company. Med-Pay also does not cover lost wages and is subject to subrogation. This means that you will most likely have to pay it back to your insurance company out of any proceeds you obtain from an at-fault driver.
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) will cover medical bills and funeral expenses related to the wreck as well. PIP also protects the policyholder, their family members, the passengers in the car, and any driver who has permission to drive the covered vehicle. PIP is not subject to subrogation, and it covers up to 80% of lost wages. You can read more about PIP vs. Med-Pay here.
What Else Can You Do?
There are a few other things you should make sure your insurance covers. If you have an infant or small child, you can make sure that your insurance covers your child’s car seat. Car seats are usually covered under collision coverage, but you should double check with your insurance company.
Also, if you have a teenager who is getting ready to drive, you will want to add them to your insurance policy. Adding your teen driver to your insurance costs less than it would to take out a separate insurance policy for them. Talk to your insurance company about the best time to add your teenager and consider increasing your liability coverage. If your teen is a good student, you might be able to get a discount as well. You don’t need to add a teen to your insurance if they only have their learner’s permit, but you should notify your insurance company if they are learning to drive in one of your insured vehicles.
We Are Personal Injury Attorneys
If you or a loved one have been injured in a wreck due to someone else’s negligence, the best thing you can do to protect yourself and your family is consult an experienced personal injury attorney. At Snellings Law, we care about every case we take, every person that reaches out to us, and their families. We are dedicated to helping the residents of North Texas heal and thrive. At Snellings Law, you don’t just hire one of us – you get our whole team of personal injury attorneys dedicated to you. Don’t hesitate to contact Snellings Law if you or someone you love has been hurt in a car accident. We offer free strategy sessions to discuss if we can take your case and talk through our strategy and other ways you can get the help you need. Call us at 214-387-0387 to set up your free strategy session today.
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How it works:
- Call us now or give us your basic information in the Free Strategy Session box
- If your case is something we cannot help you with, we will do our best to get you the information of someone who can.
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There is zero obligation. We want all injury victims to understand their rights and the process.
After your Free Strategy Session, you will understand where insurance companies can set traps for you and what needs to be done to avoid these traps. You will also understand the personal injury process as well as how we can help, or if you need the help of an attorney. The strategy session typically will have one of three outcomes. You:
- Decide to move forward with our law firm.
- Decide to think about it, and we will be available to answer your questions.
- Say, “I’ve got this,” and decide you do not need an attorney.
Again, there is zero obligation and you will be informed and understand your rights and the process. We want to arm you with knowledge to avoid the traps insurance companies set to harm your claim.